


The Fundamentals of Falling

by TechnoRanma



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Bittersweet, Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, KagaKuro Exchange, M/M, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 11:03:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11690301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnoRanma/pseuds/TechnoRanma
Summary: A training camp in the wilderness goes wrong and Kagami x Kuroko are stranded together.





	The Fundamentals of Falling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boats_birds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boats_birds/gifts).



> THANK YOU SO MUCH tetsucchin (Hillary) for all your incredible writing and the things you do for this OTP ToT!!! Your fanfics have been my life blood, I am so honoured to join in and I hope this wasn't too far off the mark! <3!!

 

In basketball there are only really two plays: Romeo and Juliet, and putting the darn ball in the basket.  
  
That’s how Coach had put it anyway.  
  
“Oi! Kuroko! Let’s make it to the top of this tiny hill before everyone!”

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko paused to gulp for some more breath before running with an extra burst of speed to keep pace. “This is a mountain!”

“Come on!”

When the summer had arrived for Team Seirin, the lack of classes by no means meant a lack of training for their upcoming rematches in the Interhigh against the Generation of Miracles.

Coach Riko had started this year’s grand plan with pointing her megaphone on the team, declaring this the ‘summer of putting the love back on the court’.

Kagami remembered the grueling indoor practice Riko had immediately encouraged them all through until they were as weak as household pets and he _really_ struggled to find the love. What was up with Coach and her words of motivation?!

But there must have been something to it, because when the weather got just right and everybody felt that restless yearning to spend a little less time doing indoor drills, Team Seirin found themselves getting bused up the winding country roads, revisiting Coach Aida (Senior).

Riko’s father, Kagetora, was ready with another go of fartlek style training.

So they were here, running in the wilderness to work out all the muscles that went underused in the school gymnasium. 

“Oof, hey, watch it— everyone! Spread out more! But stay close to the walking paths!” Hyuuga grouched as he and Furihata nearly bowled each other over on a narrow section of wooded trail.

“Sorry senpai!”

“I think the map back at camp said there’s supposed to be a waterfall this way!” Koganei exclaimed, veering off from the rest of the group with a silent Mitobe in tow.

Kagami took a deep breath of fresh air. Being outside of the court and in the thick of nature without the squeak of trainers on the shiny floor (that they’d have to sweep later) was refreshing.

Kuroko’s arm bumped into Kagami’s as they jogged beside each other up the gentle dirt slope. “When we get back, I want a Pocari Sweat.”

“Same here.” Kagami grinned.

 

* * *

 

“Still shadowing me?” Kagami tossed over his shoulder in high spirits. The angle of the earth here was a lot steeper than they had crossed before, and Kagami had to give Coach Kagetora credit – he could feel the burn in muscles he didn’t even think he _had_.

“This is—” Kuroko puffed, the smile audible in his voice. “A lot like climbing the stairs to your apartment after playing street ball all day.”

They had lost sight of anyone else, but that might have been because of the route – gone was the easy terrain from before, and Kagami found he really had to pick his legs up and even use his arms and hands to swing himself around tight footholds and tree roots.

“Let’s go this way,” Kuroko directed them, neatly taking the lead by darting under a tree branch that had Kagami’s taller stature doing some hasty dodging in order to stay close.  

“ _Oi-!!_ You sneaky-”

The words cut off with a shocked ‘hup’ as Kagami’s foot slipped out from under him on an unexpectedly slick patch of leaves.

...

PAIN.

Pain exploded in his body as he slammed into the solid ground, his breath knocked out of him as his whole 6’3” frame went crashing down on the forest floor, tumbling uncontrollably as he fell head over feet hard and fast.

...

He came to a stop on what must have been a thick root, and even though he wasn’t moving anymore Kagami’s head felt like it was still spinning. He took a minute to grunt in hurt as he rolled onto his back.

Kagami squeezed his eyes shut; slowly blinking them open until he was staring up through the forest canopy. The noise and shear gracelessness of his fall were good and done with at least.

“Kagami-kun, are you okay?” Kuroko’s voice drifted to Kagami’s ears from somewhere far, although he couldn’t see him.  
  
Kagami groaned as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, quickly taking stock of the scattered array of cuts and scrapes that he’d gotten on his arms and legs – wherever his gym clothing hadn’t protected. He was sure there would be some nasty bruises in the morning as well.

“Ugh. I’m fine! I’m not much to look at right now, though.” Kagami called out and made a futile effort to brush some dirt off his skin. “Ow.”

After another moment of brushing himself off, Kagami stopped. He had expected some kind of quick wit response from Kuroko, but the only reply he got was the cicadas chirping loudly in the forest.

“Kuroko?” Kagami listened, and then sat up straighter looking around in more alarm. “Kuroko? Where are you? Are you all right?!”

“I fell down further on the slope...” Kuroko’s voice echoed, bouncing off the mountainside. “If Kagami-kun could come save me now it would be much appreciated.”

Kagami was on his feet in a split second. “Kuroko!!”

His basketball partner’s voice had come from somewhere to his left, so Kagami made his way over to the precarious dirt ledge of the shear slope and looked over.

A blue mop of hair with bits of dried leaves and dirt in it caught his eye, a whole lot further down than Kagami had expected.

“Kuroko...?”

The head turned upwards and Kuroko’s huge eyes stared up. “Kagami-kun.” He visibly let out a wince and Kagami felt worry explode in him like he could leap down the 20 meters on nothing but hang time to reach his friend in the next second. He grabbed a nearby tree for leverage.

“Be careful! It may be really unstable ground here.” Kuroko warned, as if he had a phantom sixth sense for Kagami’s sudden burst of recklessness.

“Uh-OK. I’m coming down to you slowly. Are you ok?”

“I— I think I’m in one piece...”

Kagami listened to Kuroko’s soft shuffling around as he focused on hanging onto trees with his roughed up hands and getting good footholds to scale down to Kuroko’s little ledge.

Kuroko was cradling his wrist, still seated in a nest of underbrush. Both of his knees were bleeding sluggishly, but THAT both he and Kagami had in common.

Damn. They were lucky. It could have been a lot worse.

“Oi, let me see.” Kagami knelt down, grimacing along with Kuroko as they both moved with new aches.

Scrapes around his ankles, dirt all over and smudged under one eye – but Kuroko held out his arm.

“My wrist.”

And Kagami had taken Kuroko’s hand plenty of times; to pull him up, fist bump... escape getting it shoved in his _face_... or to get his attention, but he had never felt such a need to be gentle. Aggressive care always came more naturally to Kagami than anything else... but here... he touched lightly.

Kuroko sucked a breath in, in obvious pain.

Kagami’s eyebrows furrowed deeply. “Try rotating?”

It was looking worse and worse. They both only had textbook knowledge on sports injuries and medicine, but Kuroko shook his head.

“I’ve sprained it before, but I can’t even _move_ it right now.”

Kagami grit his teeth in sympathy. “..It might be broken.”

“I suspect that might be it.” Something in Kuroko’s expression fell, and it made something uncomfortable roll in the pit of Kagami’s stomach.

Kuroko ducked his head and carefully pulled his injured arm against his body, settling heavily back against the dirt with a deep sigh.

“This season is done for me before we even started.”

And that was the worst of it.

Something spiked in the bottom of Kagami’s gut. Kuroko’s monotone was downcast. His hair hung over most of his face. Everything about him was definitely upset.

With his shadow’s specialty being his passing and misdirection, it dawned on Kagami just how much that was a low blow to have that suddenly taken away from him for an undetermined amount of time.

“Hey...”

“I’m sorry, Kagami-kun. The team— I was looking forward to this season, but now...” Kuroko tried moving his wrist again and they _both_ cringed when it was obviously too much.

“This is... very depressing right now.”

The way Kuroko described his mood was so blunt and matter-of-fact that Kagami couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “Don’t be _sorry_ , moron. You’re _hurt_ and you’re worrying about playing in the _game_?” He couldn’t believe Kuroko sometimes, but on the other hand they were so alike that way. “Worry about that later! And you call _me_ the basketball idiot.”

It was reflex to give his friend a quick chop on the head for his choice of priorities, but knowing he was injured, Kagami aborted the motion at the last second, the side of his hand grazing and cradling Kuroko’s temple and cheek gently instead. On impulse Kagami kept it there.

“You’ll heal up _fast_ and we’ll take first place in the Winter Cup.”

Big blue eyes finally turned to look up at Kagami, studying. Kuroko’s gaze always had a pinning sort of effect and Kagami’s cheeks felt hot despite how earnestly he had meant to reassure his friend.

Finally, the corners of Kuroko’s mouth tipped up and he tilted his head slightly into Kagami’s scratched and dirty hand. He let out a small huff. “Kagami-kun’s appearance right now would probably scare the young children on the street court if they could see you, but... you are very much a sight for sore eyes right now... ” Kuroko joked at last. “Thank you.”

Kagami instantly felt some of the tension in him unwind and he sighed, the colour in his cheeks burning bright as he pressed his hand to Kuroko’s face more solidly before pulling away. “You really must be hurting if it took you THAT long to make fun of me.”

An impassive blink. “You’ve caught on to that?”

“What do you take me for!?” Kagami grumbled.

Kuroko chuckled a bit and winced as he started moving out of the mess of foliage.

Kagami got to his feet and held out a hand. “Get up and quit making a bed out of that ditch!”

Kuroko reached up and took the hand with his good one, and was pulled up more by his teammate than by his own efforts.

 “Ah!” Kuroko cried out sharply, toppling over as soon as he took a step.

“What happened?!” Kagami rushed to steady his friend.

Kuroko gulped in dismay, gingerly testing his ankle. “I must have twisted my ankle, too.”

“Oh.” Kagami frowned.

What little lift to his spirits Kuroko had gained back over the hurt wrist was flattened again with the discovery of an injured ankle. Seirin’s starter was going to be out of the count for a while.

“Kagami-kun, I hope it can’t get much worse than this.”

A drop of sweat rolled down Kagami’s brow and he swiped at it before throwing an arm around Kuroko’s middle.

“Uh. Yeah. You need first aid. Actually, we both do. Now, how do we get back to the trail...?”

* * *

 

  
It was hard to tell from below, but it seemed like a good estimate that they’d fallen at least 20 meters down the steep slope of the woods.

The trail they had originally been following was somewhere back up the incline, and it was easy for both of them to agree that the climb Kagami had scaled down with gravity and adrenaline on his side was pretty much impossible for them to go back up.

They’d have to make their way through the untouched forest until they reached one of the various trails that cut through the mountain wilderness, or hopefully run into one of the other members of the team.

It had been a comfortable, breezy early morning when Seirin had set out onto the mountain.

Now though... the sun was higher in the sky and the summer humidity in Japan was like a dense blanket of heat that weighed heavily as they walked through the forest. It was well past lunchtime and the temperature was at its peak.

Kagami’s stomach growled loudly.

A small mirthful smile quickly appeared and then vanished from Kuroko’s lips. “Kagami-kun, I thought that was a bear.”

“Shut up,” Kagami glared. “Twenty Maji Burgers sounds so good right now.”

His stomach let out another grumble. “Hell, Coach’s cooking is starting to sound good, too!”

“I won’t lie, that Pocari Sweat would be wonderful.” Kuroko absently mopped his face with the back of his wrist sweatband.

Kagami thought about the cool vending machines back at the camp. The rest of the team had been scheduled to return to the lodgings for lunch and then continue drills later on in the milder weather.

“Damnit... The Coach and the team must have realised we’re late by now!”

“Do you think they’re looking?” Kuroko leaned a bit heavier on Kagami as they walked. It was a snail’s pace compared to what they had been capable of before. The pair’s eyes met doubtfully.

Late? Yes. But it was questionable on if Seirin thought they were _lost_ or not.

And that was another thing.

...They might be lost.

Their speed was slowed to a crawl and truthfully they were _basically_ just wandering in a general downwards and backwards direction hoping to reach a point where they could maybe retrace their steps?

Sweat was freely rolling down both their faces.

“Sorry- hold on,” Kuroko pulled back, putting a little distance between their sides. His injured wrist was carefully tucked into the front pouch pocket on his hoodie.

 Kuroko’s attention seemed to catch on something on his teammate’s body. “Kagami-kun— your clothing.”

Kagami’s t-shirt was definitely soaked through and clinging uncomfortably close to his skin now as the sun baked down. Heat flashed up the back of Kagami’s neck and his hand flew up to rub there in embarrassment.

“Should I take it off?” He reached down and grabbed the hem.

For an instant Kuroko’s look was deer-like up at his light before he pressed his lips together looked away.

“As much as-... No, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko hummed in negative and limped back over to resume using Kagami as a makeshift walking aid. “It’s actually easier to hang on to while I hobble.”

“Maybe we should find you a stick.”

“Now why can’t you make an offer like that to Nigou?” Kuroko admonished, his good hand coming back to curl into the damp t-shirt at Kagami’s back.

And Kagami felt something pleasant curl in his stomach at the trusted gesture. “Or maybe a rickshaw.” He replaced his arm around Kuroko’s middle and they continued ambling in the direction they had picked.

 

* * *

 

Basketball was a contact sport. A duel of swords in brief collisions and parries, offense cutting through defense (if they were so-called players taking the stage).

Kagami was no stranger to that.

Putting one foot in front of the other they were more in sync than ever before. Kuroko’s side was pressed flush against Kagami’s and their bare legs brushed together all the way down. There were multiple points of contact that – unlike on the court – here in the woods it was _never-ending_.

The temperature must have been getting to him because it felt like the contact was _all_ Kagami could focus on.

It was one of those... things... that without warning would creep up and nag at Kagami in some combination of embarrassment and thrill out of the blue.

Unwittingly, the taller player started thinking about moments like during practice matches when Kuroko’s fingers would reach out and make a fist in his shirt, grabbing hard enough for tension before Coach blew her whistle for the obvious foul. And Kuroko would lift an eyebrow in the barest of movements, smile and let the fabric slide out of his grasp but Kagami would still somehow feel completely _tethered_ -

And even sometimes Kagami might press his defense harder and a little longer than necessary against Kuroko when he had the ball, not giving him an inch of room.

But it wasn’t even just _that_.

“Ouch.” Kuroko’s fingers griped Kagami’s shoulder as the shorter player hiked himself up from where he was slumping into his side, his ankle having been jostled on some uneven ground suddenly.

Kagami clutched Kuroko’s hip to help him balance.

...

Maybe Kagami would’ve liked to find out how it felt to do this a different way, in an entirely different situation.

It’d be nice to just... stroll. With his arm around Kuroko. In the night at the beach, or even something simple like on the way home.

It wasn’t only touches either. Kuroko’s words connected too.

Kuroko could tease mercilessly when it came to poking fun at Kagami that often he’d be beet red and sputtering for a comeback.

And then, now and again he’d be so genuine (actually – he was always genuine) that Kagami’s chest would feel suspiciously warm and he’d be pretty amazed that he had met Kuroko.

He wasn’t a stranger to that either.

Kagami just wanted a moment where he could find a zone that made the mess of feelings he had about Kuroko slip into alignment and reveal what position he was even playing at here.

“Doing ok?” Kagami peered down at the blue head resting on his bicep.

Kuroko was looking haggard, “Yes. As long as I’m with Kagami-kun.” But somehow he still had the energy to say something like _that_.

“Sheesh...” Kagami muttered, and used his free hand to go for a hair ruffle. Kuroko head butted his hand away.

...

Five minutes later, the sun came out from behind a cloud and the cicadas got even _louder_.

“This is getting unbearable.” Kagami dragged a hand down his face.

 “Kagami-kun is sweating far more than me.” Kuroko observed, although with far less of that quasi-emperor eye, and much more of a laboured kind of remark in the humid air.

Water stations were supposed to be on the routes, but Kagami couldn’t say any of them had really studied the map of the terrain when they were just here to do a little running.

“Kagami-kun, I’m feeling-” Kuroko’s foot sank into the earth with a ‘squelch’ and he looked down at it disoriented. “Wet?”

Kagami’s feet were stiff like they were 3 sizes too big (in America even, not just Japan) for his now wet shoes. “I’m stepping in mud here. It didn’t rain?”

They came around a thick set of trees and Kagami quit walking.

“Hey!? Oh perfect timing, there’s a _stream!_ ”

Kuroko’s gait swayed. “That’s... perfect.”

The compact muscled weight against his side suddenly got twice as heavy and Kagami fumbled to grab and catch a fainted Kuroko.

“Oh no- Kuroko?”

The _last_ time Kuroko had fainted on him was on his apartment’s balcony because of Coach’s protein powders. “Kuroko!”

The shorter player sagged in his grip and Kagami squawked, immediately dragging his shadow up under one arm and taking gigantic lunging steps to reach the tiny stream’s edge. Kagami gasped, feeling extremely winded himself, and his arms really struggled as he dropped to the damp mossy ground with Kuroko cushioned in his lap.

“Kuroko, drink this!”

Kagami tipped Kuroko’s mouth open and then quickly scooped some water up, trying to both keep him upright and get the damn water into his teammate’s mouth.

It dribbled down Kuroko’s chin and into the front of his sweatshirt, not even barely trickling into his mouth where it ACTUALLY _needed_ to go.

Kagami cursed.

“Damnit! Kuroko! Hey-” He shook the other boy in his arms, but he seemed to be really out of it.

He couldn’t hold Kuroko up to drink and scoop up cupped handfuls of water at the same time. And it wasn’t as if Kuroko could do it himself.

Kagami’s brain whirred for a way to help his teammate fast – If he had a bottle or something—

Kagami’s cheeks started to feel hot again when it occurred to him what he could do.

And ok. This really wasn’t any different from sharing a water bottle; something Kuroko and Kagami did regularly.

...

Kagami stared down at his shadow, whose complexion was seriously pale, his lips dry and chapping. Kagami was not in much better shape.

There was that nagging again, in the back of Kagami’s mind, that had this been another time or another place, maybe—

Oh screw it.

Kagami splashed huge gulps of water into his mouth, tipped Kuroko’s mouth open again, and—

He could feel Kuroko’s lips move as he swallowed reflexively.

Kagami quickly pulled back and scrubbed his face with the back of his hand, trying to wipe away the evidence of the hot mortification burning from there.

Kuroko coughed, sputtering out some of the water that Kagami had worked so hard to get in him.  The shadow opened his eyes blearily.

“Oi...Are you okay?”

 “Thirsty.” Kuroko croaked, his lips cracked, but he looked very much more revitalised than he had a minute ago.

Blue eyes lit up in recognition when he saw the small, shallow stream. He looked around and when his gaze failed to land on any source of jug or container Kuroko’s eyebrows furrowed.

“How did you...?”

Kagami’s ears turned red, but he was overcome with a rush of relief. “Never mind that! Come on, are you ok to sit up on your own?”

Kuroko blinked and seemed surprised to find that he was being held up in Kagami’s arms.

“ _When_ did you...?” Kuroko trailed off, but didn’t seem bothered by their positions, though he did give Kagami a look that was far too searching and calculating than was good for the taller boy’s peace of mind.

The pair eventually sat their bruised selves on the slippery rocks next to the stream and drank handfuls of the running water as they tried to regain their energy.

Kagami drank his own handfuls, gaze carefully on everything in the mountainside except his companion. The water wasn’t exactly cold or fresh enough to sluice through the summer time heat, but Kagami barely noticed... MOSTLY because he had kissed (kissed? Could he call it that? He could call it by any other name, but he)... _kissed_ Kuroko, and he was suddenly very conscious of his own lips.

The birds in the forest chirped around them.

“Argh!” Kagami splashed his face with some water and kept it scrunched up as the droplets rolled off.

The basketball player should just quit wondering about what this meant in the bigger scheme of things, and just submit to the gravity that had them wandering down this godforsaken mountain in the first place.

Kuroko must have been tuned into something on the same wavelength, because he abruptly sat up straight and blurted out,

“The stream is running away from the summit.”

“What??”

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko turned earnestly to his light. “The campgrounds were near that lake at the entrance of the park— this stream might run towards it. If we follow the stream we might find something familiar much faster.”

Anybody looking for them might do the same too.

A smile stretched over both their faces and Kagami instinctively held out a fist.

Kuroko bumped it.

“ _Yes!_ ”

 

* * *

 

 “We’ve been walking a long time.”

“Uh. Yeah. I haven’t seen any trail yet, have you?”

“All I see are trees...”

A bit of upturned root caught Kuroko’s foot and the two of them tripped, Kagami rushing to grab a nearby branch to save themselves from eating dirt. The trip aggravated Kuroko’s wrist badly, which they had been SO careful about up until then. They were hurting all over, hungry, tired, dirty, and getting clumsier by the minute.

“I’m sorry Kagami-kun, I suppose I didn’t see _that_ one.” Kuroko took deep breaths against the pain in his wrist waiting for it to subside.

“Hey. Same, I was too busy watching you-” Kagami stopped. “I mean.”

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko stared up at him his eyes crinkling with revere and fatigue. “I don’t think I can keep going yet. Just,”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Kagami himself was holding it together with the last threads of adrenaline. He didn’t even know what mysterious force Kuroko still had left to drive him. “I need to stop, too.”

It was probably only due to the impressive athletic shape they were already in why they had been able to travel as far as they did in the first place.

“Oof,” Kuroko eased himself down with Kagami’s help against a mossy tree. The ground here was dry and at least the worst of the day’s heat had gone.

Kagami was actually starting to feel chilly in his shirt.

Kuroko contemplated the taller player who was trying to do some stretches against his cramping limbs.

“Kagami-kun should take off his clothes.”

“...What!?” Kagami cheeks turned hot and he blushed all the way up past his eyebrows. “Why!?”

Kuroko’s eyes grew owl like, and then he appeared to be thinking. “I’m worried. You’ve been wearing that damp shirt for hours now and it isn’t getting dry.”

“Oh. _Damn it_. Yeah.” Kagami grabbed the hem and yanked the shirt over his head discarding it to floor, and it surprised him just how clammy that article of clothing had been until he had gotten it off.

He was also glad for the small reprieve from Kuroko’s blue gaze as he did so, too. How was his mind still able to spiral straight (or rather... not so straight) into a gutter out here alone in the wilderness for goodness sake?? In the face of Kuroko’s blatant concern, Kagami wished he could just lay down there and pretend he hadn’t completely jumped to ulterior conclusions.

“OK. You were right, that does feel much better.”

Kuroko grinned slightly, “I’m forever thankful I could convince you so easily.”

“Oi.” Kagami scowled but sent a quick smile back. His shorts were riding low on his hips and he tugged them up. The day’s disaster and nothing to eat took a toll. He tightened the drawstring.

Kuroko’s eyes panned down Kagami’s body and the taller boy caught his eye for a second before the blue ones glanced unassumingly away.

Other places. Other times.

Both of them went quiet, and it was suddenly very obvious there wasn’t anyone else around for miles. It really was just the two of them; No boring classrooms with scrambling for unfinished homework, no loud teammates shoving them into each other as they passed by in the locker room, not even any annoying rivals showing up when they planned a day to hang.

Kagami sank down close next to Kuroko, wondering if he could take his shoes off too and be able to put them back on later.

Proximity just seemed to be status quo, out here, and Kagami tried not to think too hard about how it was toeing out of bounds that had so far gone untested.

Kuroko didn’t seem to have any such qualms right then, because he leaned his head onto Kagami’s bare shoulder and blue hairs tickled the taller boy’s chin.

 “I’m afraid of what might happen if we have to spend the night out here.” Kuroko confessed with a murmur.

 “Let’s stay put for a while. The team is gonna find us. _I swear_. And if they don’t, I’ll shout my secrets from the rooftop like Coach always threatened!” Kagami gave a horrible grin.

A chuckle escaped Kuroko. “I suspect they are on their way twice as fast just to avoid hearing those.”

A slight breeze blew through the woods and Kagami shivered.

“...Kagami-kun,” Kuroko held his arms open (wrist still cradled in pocket). “Let’s share body heat.”

“...”                     

And really, it was just the two of them. No Izuki-senpai wise-cracks, no Nigou surprise barks. It would stay a secret.

The prolonged contact must have made it that much easier to shuffle awkwardly until he was seated in front of Kuroko, leaning back while a warm arm wrapped around Kagami’s bare middle, and the light held his breath.

 “O-oi tell me if I’m too heavy or something.”

 “You could never be too heavy or any kind of burden. In fact, I’m very comfortable now.” The soft point of Kuroko’s chin dug into the fleshy part in between Kagami’s neck and shoulder as his shadow appeared to relax into a state of rest that neither of them had been able to do _all day_.

Kagami breathed in and just let himself be held.

The fierce red in his cheeks became a steady glow as they slowly became more at ease, here alone, lost out in the woods.  
  
But Kagami chalked it up to the fact that you didn’t go through certain things with somebody and not feel closer. Intimate.  
  
Kagami’s words may not be where he scored the most points, but even he knew that’s what to call this.  
  
It’s times like these when he’s so exhausted but can’t sleep that he thinks about tomorrow.  
  
A small part of him wondered if he’s only got Kuroko on borrowed time. Like playing the Winter Cup in borrowed shoes, he’s walked a mile them, played hard enough for a lifetime, and…

More than that, he’s gotten comfortable with Kuroko. He doesn’t want to give Kuroko back to his old teammates, although he knows – he _knows_ – that a large part of Kuroko will always belong to the Generation of Miracles.

Kagami let his head dip back and softly thunk into Kuroko’s chest. The subtle rise and fall of his partner’s breathing made something palpable well up inside the taller boy.  

When it comes to basketball, there are only two plays.

Kagami already knew how to put the ball in the damn basket. But, making it into a love story...?

That’s the thing though; the thing that keeps catching up to them no matter where they are or where they could go.

He thinks he’s already in one.

Kagami’s hand folds over Kuroko’s and his eyes slip closed.

 

* * *

 

Someone was nudging him in the side. He didn’t budge. A finger poked his cheek briefly.

A loud whisper. “Kagami-kun!”

Kuroko.

“..Huh!?”

“Wake up, please. I think I heard something.” The arm encircling his bare middle pulls away and Kagami misses it dearly before consciousness means he’s socked with all the aches and pains from their fall.

“Ugh.”

They weren’t too sure how long they’d fallen asleep, but the sun was dangerously close to setting and the light and shadow groaned as they helped each other to stand up.

A bird or animal let out a sound nearby and Kagami jumped, letting out a nervous yelp at the sound. The taller boy grabbed Kuroko’s shoulders, eyes darting around and suddenly thinking of bears. “Hey, what’d you say you heard, anyway!?”

“I think it was-”

The static of a megaphone crackled in the forest.

“KUROKO! BAKAGAMI!”

The two teammates froze and then stared at each other in elation.

“The team.” Kuroko’s expression lit up.

Straining their hearing over the wildlife sounds, sure enough there was the faint familiar chatter of voices close by.

“HEY-” Kagami coughed and cleared his parched throat. “HEY! OVER HERE!”

 “GUYS? HEY!” Furihata appeared over a ridge.  “Coach I found them!!”

The pair of light and shadow barely had time to blink before Team Seirin was rushing over into view and helping to shoulder the exhausted looking Kuroko. Mitobe and Koganei came to Kagami’s sides too.

_RELIEF!_

Relief so large it felt like air walking.

“Guys.” Kagami could not be blamed for the tear he quickly swiped away from the corner of his eye.

It was a mass of talking and wrapping blankets and shoving water bottles at the two lost players. They had finally been found, but something felt like it was missing. Kagami hands were empty— Kuroko being led away from of him.

And...Well.

Their ordeal was over. Going back to familiar territory and whatever happened next, Kagami was glad about how they had played their parts. They had made it out safe.

Kagami glanced over at Kuroko, and Kuroko was looking back as they were lumbered up the ridge with abandon towards Coach Riko’s megaphone.

 

* * *

 

Basketball shoes squeaked over the floor of the high school gym.

“Laps! Three more!”

The shout got a chorus of yells in return, practice in full swing at Seirin High.

Long since their time out in the mountainside, the basketball team was back at it and school was back in session.

Kuroko’s ankle had healed pretty quickly, but it had been determined that his wrist had suffered a significant fracture.

After his doctor’s visit, Kuroko had appeared in the gym seemingly out of nowhere with a new cast in place of his team wristband and everyone had taken a turn writing something on there.

As the school year began again, they battled other teams and the writings grew in number. Midorima had used a thick black marker to write “27 Lucky”.

Kise’s note was more like a paragraph with LOTS of little smiley faces (that eventually got partly overwritten by other teammate messages).

Kagami had simply penned “ready for the pass” and underlined it twice. A basketball had been drawn beside it by someone else later.

Kuroko’s thumb grazed over that note now.

Getting the news about his injury during the fartlek training had been tough.

Riko had pulled him aside and made the difficult decision to tell him that he couldn’t be a starter until he was healed. Kuroko was no stranger to stubbornness but the shadow was inclined to agree with her. After watching his upperclassmen struggle with Kiyoshi-senpai’s enduring injury during game-play, he didn’t want to put that burden on her or Hyuuga-san’s shoulders again. Such was the life of athletes.

Izuki-senpai ran by where Kuroko sat and the blue haired teen handed him a towel.

“Thanks! Kuroko!”

So Kuroko was here, prescribed to the bench. He was back to being the sixth man.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time he had spent longer than a few weeks hating the game. A love could become poison if you let it consume you in the wrong ways. And it was ironic – now that all the Generation of Miracles had changed their point of view, and he could finally play against them on the same level, he was relegated to just watching.

Riko blew her whistle loudly, some strands of hair wafting up from her forehead with the sound. She patted them back into place sparing a cross look at the crew. “What Light through yonder window fast breaks down the court?”

“Huh???”

Coach sighed and put a hand to her forehead. “Izuki! Hyuuga! Stronger defense! Kagami cut through you two like butter.”

“Then I guess we should cut to the chase.” Izuki cracked.

Hyuuga groaned. “DON’T.”

Everyone got back into position to run the drill again.

Nigou jumped into Kuroko’s lap and the boy began petting him. A smile tugged at Kuroko’s mouth and he returned his attention to the practice.

Fundamentally, Kuroko hadn’t needed to actually be playing on a basketball team to love the game.

For him it had never been one or the other.

And if it was one thing Kuroko had learned in his growing basketball career, it was that things could change drastically as easily as one misstep on the wrong footfall.

...

“I’LL DUNK IT!” Kagami slammed the ball into the backboard and it rebounded into his head.

“Kagami you idiot!”

Observation was a big part of Kuroko’s kind of basketball. Now he had a lot more time to observe. Especially his light.

For the longest time in middle school he was behind the scenes – a supporting player to the main stars.

Hiding in plain sight had been his greatest strength, on and off the court. It was also his biggest downfall.

Kuroko had always regretted not acting when he could have, or saying what he felt when he had had the feelings. Now more than ever before, he wanted his feelings to be seen.

He wanted Kagami to _notice_.

Ever since they went through getting stranded, Kuroko had felt they had left something important back up there on the mountainside, getting lost in the shuffle of day to day life again.

But the sensation was still there— that Kuroko and Kagami were falling into something together that he didn’t want to lose.

Kuroko’s eyes glanced at the message written on his cast again.

Like falling, sometimes it’s impossible to go back the way you came from. You just had to keep going in an entirely new direction together.

“Hey.” Kagami sat down beside Kuroko.

Kuroko lifted a water bottle.

“Water?”

A small swath of red spread across Kagami’s cheekbones at the offer and he broke eye contact, clearing his throat before taking the water bottle to squirt some in his mouth.

“Thanks.” He grumbled, rubbing his nose and handing the bottle back.

Comfortable silence. Nigou scampered off to run around Riko’s feet.

“Y’know, I almost wish that I had gotten hurt too, so that way we’d be sitting on the bench together.” Kagami patted the wooden seat they both currently sat on, and an impressive furrow appeared between his split eyebrows.

Kuroko breathed in and was struck by a rush of...

There was a deep well of affection, _devotion_ – reserved in Kuroko for the boy in front of him.

 “Kagami-kun. _Don’t_ say that. If it hadn’t been for you...” He paused, trying to find the right words. “...Getting hurt and lost in the woods could have been much worse. And as for what happened, it’s fine to miss playing a few weeks of basketball.”

Kagami’s frown increased with uncertainty.

So Kuroko leaned forward in earnest. “You were there for me. You saved me.” He held Kagami’s gaze until the taller boy’s expression melted.    
  
“You’re a pain in the neck.” Kagami seemed embarrassed.

A small smile. “I’m grateful Kagami-kun cares so much about me.” Kuroko tilted his head up, eyes taking in Kagami, as if seeing him in a completely different light than the gymnasium bulbs. “I don’t know what would have happened to me if I didn’t have you.”

And it occurred to Kuroko that he wasn’t just talking about their time on the mountain, but everything they had ever gone through together to get here.

Kagami stared down at Kuroko, his expression a brimming fond mixture of disbelief and awe. It took a moment for him to seemingly come to his senses enough to where he could open his mouth to say something in return.

Coach blew her whistle, startling the two benched players almost out of their skin.

“Kagami! Break time is over. Jumping drills, let’s go!”

Kagami groaned, but rose to his feet.

“Tell me later.”

Kagami shot a wide eyed look at Kuroko.

“If Kagami-kun would like to.”

 Kuroko nudged him in the back of the knee to get him back to jumping.

 

* * *

 

When practice was finally over for the day, Kuroko and Kagami idly took their time walking to the point before they parted ways to head to their respective homes. 

Kuroko glanced up. “Kagami-kun?”

Kagami peered over from the basketball he was spinning on his finger. “Hm??”

“About our accident in the woods. There is one thing I’ve been meaning to ask.”

Kagami caught the ball and gratefully accepted the bottle of water that Kuroko proffered him, expression getting wary. “’Bout what?” He took a sip.

“When we got dehydrated and Kagami-kun found a way to get me to drink some water— I think I figured out how you did it.”  
  
“-WHAT!!” Kagami coughed and spluttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand to hastily try and hide his glowing face. “You can’t just bring that up out of nowhere!?”

“Mm.” Kuroko nodded, still looking ahead as they walked, a barely there smile gracing his lips.

“...You know nothing. You were zoned out.” Kagami waved his arms and tossed the water bottle back to Kuroko, who caught it deftly with his good hand.

The way Kagami avoided his eyes and didn’t deny it gave some inkling of acknowledgment that there was a bit of truth to whatever conclusions Kuroko was hinting at.

That was it. He would never be able to look at a water bottle the same way again without remembering Kagami’s embarrassed face from this moment.

Kuroko took his own sip, quickly stowing the bottle away. “I'm still thirsty.”  
  
Kagami choked, dropped the ball and quickly dribbled it. “How are you just saying these sorts of things...?!”  
  
“Water is boring though,” Kuroko deadpanned. And then he smiled warmly. “I think I’d like a vanilla shake.”  
  
Kagami’s head whipped around in bewilderment. Their eyes met. “You want to go to Maji Burger?”  
  
Kuroko slipped his good hand into Kagami’s.  
  
Kagami squeezed it in surprise, but he didn’t let go.  
  
Kuroko smiled. Looked back at the message on his cast. “I thought you would never ask.”

 

 

End.

 

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. Kuroko’s injury fully healed right in time for the Winter Cup and it made his passes even better V^_^;.


End file.
